arguable

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Latin arguōder.

Old French arguerbor.

Middle English arguen

English argue

Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr

Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlom

Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlis

Proto-Italic *-ðlis

Latin -bilis

Latin -ābilis

Old French -ablebor.

Middle English -able

English -able

English arguable

From argue + -able.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɑːɡjuəbl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɑɹɡjuəbl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

arguable (comparative more arguable, superlative most arguable)

1. That can be argued; that can be proven or strongly supported with sound logical deduction, precedent, and evidence.
2. (colloquial) Open to doubt, argument or debate.

   Synonym: disputable

   • 2009 January 8, Michelle Slatalla, “Two Can Play That Game”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     This led to a set of rules (play cannot begin before crossing East Blithedale Avenue), then subrules ("crossing" means reaching the always arguable halfway point of the avenue) […] .

Derived terms

• arguably
• inarguable
• unarguable

Translations

defensible in an argument

• Catalan: arguïble (ca)
• Dutch: verdedigbaar (nl)
• Esperanto: defendebla
• Finnish: perusteltavissa
• French: défendable (fr), justifiable (fr), soutenable (fr)
• German: bestreitbar (de)
• Hungarian: bizonyítható (hu)
• Portuguese: argumentável m or f
• Romanian: argumentabil m
• Russian: доказу́емый (ru) (dokazújemyj)
• Turkish: tartışmalı (tr)

open to argument

• Catalan: discutible
• Dutch: betwistbaar (nl)
• Esperanto: argumentebla
• Finnish: kiistanalainen (fi)
• French: discutable (fr)
• Hungarian: vitatható (hu)
• Ido: argumentebla
• Italian: disputàbile, opinabile (it)
• Manx: so-arganeagh
• Portuguese: discutível m or f, debatível
• Russian: спо́рный (ru) (spórnyj)
• Spanish: discutible (es)
• Swedish: diskutabel (sv)

Anagrams

• Balaguer